UHV wins two on first day of conference tourney

By BY THOMAS R. MARTINEZ - tmartinez@vicad.com
May 6, 2010 at 12:06 a.m.

UHV catcher Brittany Faas checks the runner during the Jaguars' game against Simon Fraser.

Redemption was on the minds of the University of Houston-Victoria softball team Thursday on the first day of the Association of Independent Institutions Conference Championship.

To defend their title, the Jaguars would have to beat a pair of teams they lost to earlier this season.

Mission accomplished. UHV beat Louisiana State University-Alexandria 4-2 in the first game, then held on to beat No. 14 Simon Fraser 3-1 in game two. With the two wins, UHV moved closer to defending its title and will play No. 1 seed California State University-San Marcos on Friday.

Courtney Pettit's three-run home run gave UHV the only runs it would need in the win over Simon Fraser. The win gave the Jaguars a little revenge given the Clan beat them in a pair of one-run heartbreakers earlier this season during the UHV Invite.

"We lost to them twice in the bottom of the sixth, so we were just ready to come out here and get some pay back on them," senior Tasha Rotramel said.

UHV did just that, with the timely home run and strong pitching from Rotramel.

"This win . I don't even know what to say about this win, to be honest with you," senior Claire McGee said. "It's something we've been looking forward to. We wanted to face them in this tournament and show them the team we really are, and I think we did," McGee said.

So, was this a redemption win?

"Absolutley," UHV coach Keri Lambeth said. "It was an excellent game. Courtney Pettit came through in the clutch for sure. She's been hitting the ball hard all year, so I was happy that she was able to knock it out of here."

The win was dampened by the loss of the first baseman Pettit, who likely broke her finger in the fourth inning on a weird defensive play. She went to the hospital for x-rays Thursday night.

Lambeth was impressed with the way her team responded after the injury to Pettit.

"The girls were able to dig deep, and instead of it being a a downer, they were able to pull through and do it for Courtney Pettit," she said.

Here are three other things to take out of Thursday's win:

Dynamic Duo: Sophomore Baylea Wagener still is searching for that elusive shutout. She took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh in game 1 against LSUA, but a couple of hits, an error and a sacrifice fly made it 4-2. Wagener buckled down and finished the complete game, giving up just three hits.

"I think it definitely helped get our momentum going for game 2," Wagener said. "Still can't get a shut out. We just a had a little uh-oh, but we fixed it and kept going."

Meanwhile, Rotramel was dominating in game two. She had a bit of rough second inning, giving up her only run, but came back and shut down the Clan the rest of the game. She allowed only three hits.

"I think I came out here with a lot of nerves, and after the first couple innings when Pettit hit that home run, everything just kind of relaxed and came together like it was supposed to," Rotramel said.

Quotable: "Big game against Cal-State San Marcos. They're ranked No. 5. We need to be on top of our game and come out swinging"